Kontakt for Composers and Sound Designers with David Das

This Kontakt seminar was designed for users of the program at all skill levels and aims to cover the following topics:

Part 1 – The Simple Stuff
Quick overview of the interface, where everything is, how you load instruments, designing multis, routing audio out to a sequencer or to an audio interface

Part 2 – Nitty Gritty Detail Stuff
How to edit an instrument, how to build an instrument from scratch, how to tweak its behavior. How to use modulators to alter pitch, volume, and effects. DFD (streaming), Time Machine, Tone Machine, and Beat Machine examples.

Part 3 – Kontakt for Expert Users
Building an orchestral template, setting up Kontakt-powered softsynth slave computers, converting/Importing Giga sounds and the pros/cons of saving them as .nki files, other shortcuts and tips and tricks to increase productivity.

AT THE END OF THE EVENING…as a bonus to attendees, there was a random drawing for some commercial Kontakt libraries: Vir2 Instruments’ Electri6ity, World Impact: Global Percussion, and Mojo: Horn Section as well as Native Instruments’ Alicia’s Keys and Abbey Road 70’s Drums.

Attendees were emailed a handout in PDF format containing links and references to other resources.

David Das is an L.A.-based composer, producer, and sound designer. Originally from New Jersey, he graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in piano, then moved to Nashville where he toured extensively as a keyboard player and musical director with a variety of artists, pioneering in the use of laptops on stage. Now based in Los Angeles, he is a composer for film, TV, and commercials, and continues various production projects, song writing, and sound design for Vir2 Instruments and Big Fish Audio. He has been a Kontakt user since Kontakt’s launch, and is the author of Kontakt 2 Power (2006, Thomson). He can be found on the web at daviddas.com, twitter.com/daviddas, and facebook.com/daviddas.

This seminar took place June 17th, 2011 at the American Film Institute, Los Angeles, California.